In conjunction with Minnesota FoodShare’s March Hunger Awareness Campaign, chefs at the restaurants were given the challenge of developing a menu item that incorporates FINNEGANS beer (Irish Amber, Dead Irish Poet Stout, or Hoppy Shepherd) and selling it on their menus during March. A portion of the sales of each dish will be donated to Minnesota FoodShare’s campaign.

But the challenge doesn’t stop there. Customers can vote for their favorite dish and the chefs behind the top five vote-getters will be invited to showcase their dish at the first Chef Food Fight Live at the Food Building on March 30. The event, which will benefit the FINNEGANS Community Fund, will gather 100+ local foodies and barstool philanthropists who will help crown the 2017 Chef Food Fight Champion. General admission tickets to the event are $50 and include samples of the five winning dishes, a pint of FINNEGANS beer, appetizers from Food Building residents Red Table Meats, Baker’s Field Flour, and The Draft Horse, and a donation to Minnesota FoodShare. VIP tickets are $100 and include all of the above, plus unlimited FINNEGANS beer and access to a VIP lounge.

The competing chefs and their dishes that incorporate FINNEGANS beer are:

Chef Vincent Francoual of Cooper Pub – Two Duck-In FINNEGANS – Two duck dishes with the breast roasted shine with honey-Dead Irish Poet glaze and the legs braised in Irish Amber. One served with bread beer and cheese gratin made with Baker Field’s Brioche, Hoppy Shepherd, and Lone Grazer North Eazy’s edge cheese, the other with bread beer cheese gratin made with Hoppy Shepherd and goodies from The Food Building.

Keith Grauman is the web editor at The Growler. When he's not drinking beer at work, he can be found homebrewing, reading comics or playing with his kids in the front yard of his south Minneapolis home.